Supplier Pulls Baklava, Plans Boycott Of New Coffee Shop

Dead on arrival.

Seems like a business-savvy move. I, for one, am far more curious about where else I can try some of these Havenly Treats now.

I will be buying all the baklava I can afford from Havenly Treats.

The original story and the quick follow up by Havenly is a testament to the importance of local journalism (and a reminder of the importance of contributing to it).

Also the importance of knowing your community and other businesses you choose to associate with.

Great idea to have a private area for young professionals! I wonder if any of those students could explain what public entities are in the civil rights act?
I for one will never buy any item from Havenly Treats solely based on the fact they are using social media to slander what they think is a public business. Looks to me like they are just trying to drum up some free advertising.

Let me get this straight. A bakery business announced via Facebook that it was going to end its contract within another company because that company's business model relies on selling customer's data to a third party? And this bakery's announcement has been reported on an online news media website that often links to Facebook?

How do people think Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and email services make money? When you sign Terms of Agreement, you are authorizing those "free" services to sell your data to third parties. If people really want to show their disapproval of this data mining system, they might consider virtually eliminating their own online presence before boycotting a business with employees who might be hurt should this business close.

There are sports agents who value having access to baseball players for recruiting purposes. I can imagine a scenario where a business might charge sports agents a fee in exchange for providing a space for baseball prospects to congregate and meet with those agents. To attract those baseball players, the business might offer free wifi, free coffee, cheap pastries, and a place for baseball players to hang out and meet with sports agents. Would it be wrong for this business to refuse access to the business's services to non-baseball players, even if they were willing to pay for those services?

You may not like the idea that companies value access to college students for hiring and data mining purposes. You may not like that a business has opened to attract college students. You may not like that you cannot access that business's services. You may think its a stupid business model and one that's doomed to fail. You may wish that companies valued everyone's data equally. But just because you don't like something, doesn't mean it should be forced to cater to you. Refusing service to someone based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. is illegal. Is the argument that "college students" are a proxy for race and class?

Screw it. Next week I'm going to walk in and demand to be served. Anyone want to join me?

I thought the coffee was a little too acidic for me and the froth on my latte had too many air bubbles.. definitely not worth the $1.2 million that my mommy paid to the women's soccer coach!

"It has come to our attention this morning that Shiru Cafe, due to their business model, only serves University students and staff, and refuses service to New Haven residents. Not knowing this, on Monday we sold our Havenly baklava at the cafe. We deeply disagree with Shiru Cafe's business model, that contributes to widening the gap between New Haven and Yale students. We will no longer be selling products to Shiru moving forward.

If you agree with us, please join us in supporting local businesses that foster fair and inclusive growth in New Haven and at Yale."

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Have they ever thought that (minority) non-Yale college students are not barred from that place?

It's not exclusive to Yale students. Certain trivial amenities are exclusive to college students.

Seems like NHI has no intention of actually reporting things fairly but are more interested in stoking resentment over insignificance.

Thank you, NHI, for stoking manufactured outrage over a cafe that would probably have failed anyway.

The reporters here clearly have no interest in actually reporting in an objective manner.

But please keep inciting perceived racial and class warfare over minutiae. Because that has worked out so well in this country.

posted by: Jonathan Hopkins on May 3, 2019 7:38pm
Refusing service to someone based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. is illegal. Is the argument that "college students" are a proxy for race and class?
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Evidently. It's curious to me how other colleges in the New Haven area are completely ignored as if they don't exist. And the fact that many, many Yale students are either on financial aid or are minorities.

Just because you may not like a business model, doesn't mean that it should be forced to cater to you. At the same time, a business like Havenly is perfectly free to end its contract with any company they want solely because they don't like a company's practices. That is their right.

What perplexes me is the concerted effort to defame a business just because it's incorrectly perceived as prejudicial. This business does not sell coffee to customers. This business sells access to and information about college students to employers. The customers are the businesses that are willing to pay for access to and information about college students. College students are exchanging their data for coffee, a space to sit with wifi, and networking opportunities. A non-college student patron looking to purchase coffee has no place in this business model. That is not the fault of the business. That is the fault of the patron who misunderstands who the customers of this business are and what services this business provides.

In my personal opinion, this business strategy unnecessarily disadvantages itself by excluding paying customers who are not college students, but I do not feel that a personal opinion is solid grounds to call upon others to boycott an establishment that is, as far as I can tell, operating legally. Will the people who boycott this business help its employees find new jobs if the cafe goes out of business because of the boycott?

If you want to explain the business model to people in a fair and honest way and allow people to choose not to patronize that business, that's fine. But deploying a boycott, the same tool used to protest racially segregated busing in the 1960s, seems like a misappropriated strategy in this context.

Bad business model for summer when kids take off unless the rest of us get fake ID's and a hankering for mediocre food.

I love Gateway and Albertus M. and Southern......

"Refusing service to someone based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, etc. is illegal. Is the argument that "college students" are a proxy for race and class?"

No, it's a proxy for etc. Judicial precedents back to the 80's.

Havenly baklava can be bought at the Book Trader Cafe on Chapel. I did this and when I served them to my dinner guests, I read the names of the three women who made them (as reported in "The Independent". Thanks too, to the business, Havenly, for their inclusive vision.

I think the policy of this "student only" business is racist, elitist and disgusting.

I really don't think most students feel exclusionary. Most come to college to experience diversity.

Gee, can the students at Gateway get in if they wear a "Yale" cap?

grapes,

I am genuinely interested in understanding how Shiru Cafe's practices are illegal. What service did Shiru Cafe refuse to offer someone based on their race, class, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, or religion? Apparently, Shiru Cafe does not sell coffee to anyone, so their refusal to sell someone coffee was not based on that person's status as a non-college student, but as a result of that business not selling coffee at all. Based on the reporting thus far, the business's refusal to sell coffee is not a discriminatory practice, but a universal one. They are not in the coffee selling business.

Is it illegal for businesses to offer student discounts? Would it be illegal for Shiru Cafe to sell their coffee for $5,000 a cup, but offer a free student discount to customers with a college ID?

If Shiru Cafe is profiting off of the sale of pastries, but refuses to sell them to people based on their student status, then that to me seems like it is wrong. But if they are truly making the pastries available at cost (without profit) to their "members", then I don't see how the business can be forced to make those pastries available to purchase to any member of the public at no additional mark-up.

Jonathan Hopkins...I appreciate your thoughtful missives. Thank you.

Isn't it difficult, as individuals, to deal with the elephant in the room?

I don't think the criticisms of the business policy of this cafe hit on what irks so many
New Haveners (I am one of them).

It is a question of CLASS. To me, these kinds of entities are the kind of thing that ruling class business people create. What is Skull & Bones about? What about the other secret societies about?

To me, this cafe is an entity that indirectly supports keeping the white ruling class in power. It's all about Networking. I'm confident that Yale has lots of ways to network after graduation and of course, Skull & Bones is the most glaring example of that.

I graduated from an elite, small school (Wesleyan) who's main focus, among other things, is diversity. And I knew that one of the most valuable things that I would get out of that experience was access to alumni who are connected. In fact, as an undergraduate it was encourage. Most colleges do this. But, for me, that's how I got my first job at Yale. I sent letters to
Wesleyan graduates who worked where I wanted to work and I got the help I needed.

To me, the cafe for "networking" is just another part of ruling class culture as it exists today at Yale. Or, maybe it's for ruling class wannabes - those trying to transcend working class roots?
If you are born ruling class, you would expect to get a knock on your door on Tap Night in April. You wouldn't need a networking cafe like this.

wesunidad:

I think the policy of this "student only" business is racist, elitist and disgusting.

Gee, can the students at Gateway get in if they wear a "Yale" cap?
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I'm still not seeing how this "cafe" is racist, elitist, and disgusting...

Gateway students can get in with their college ID (if that's not the case, someone please let us know).

Thanks! I am now aware that Gateway students and students from area
colleges can get in to the cafe.

posted by: wesunidad on May 5, 2019 12:06pm
Thanks! I am now aware that Gateway students and students from area
colleges can get in to the cafe.
====

Thanks for the verification. Regardless of who can get in, it still seems weird to me. Anyway...

I'm just wondering why you assumed that it was Yale-only in the first place and why you automatically assumed the worst case scenario (racism, classism, elitism).

It just seems counter-productive when social activists observe everything under a prejudiced microscope to magnify microscopic minutiae as evidence of "racism" and "classism".

Had they kicked out Yale students of color, then yes, I would agree with the outrage.

posted by: wesunidad on May 5, 2019 9:57am

To me, the cafe for "networking" is just another part of ruling class culture as it exists today at Yale. Or, maybe it's for ruling class wannabes - those trying to transcend working class roots?
If you are born ruling class, you would expect to get a knock on your door on Tap Night in April. You wouldn't need a networking cafe like this.
======

Maybe this is overanalyzing? Not every "network" is made up of millionaires and billionaires. Not every "network" is for ruling class wannabes. Maybe trying not to see everything as class warfare would benefit the very people who would most need networks to establish their careers or find a job. The Yale college student may not need the extra networking, but maybe someone at GCC or UNH might. Granted, I'm not sure how successful this cafe will be.

How dare the NHI decide it's time to impact the future of a business (however unfair as it may be). That's up to the folks who live here and the businesses' patrons. Is it a healthy business model? Personally, I don't think so - but guess what? Folks can make up their own minds. as for me, I'll decide (as I already have) to spend my coffee money elsewhere. Shame on you NHI. Click-bait crap!

Havenly Treats did the right thing. This action is just one step closer in the nail in the coffin for

a coffee shop that does not serve EVERYONE!

Upon re-thinking, I believe the outrage over this spot is way overblown. I think my own frustration with it is that it seems like a completely unsustainable business, and i'm not sure how it will remain in a pricey storefront on College St. But ultimately they can do whatever they want and a boycott is a waste of time.

The other end of it is masquerading as a coffee shop that will inevitably lead to confusion. Part of this business' day-to-day will be telling people they can't buy there, which at the very least must be tiring. If it was branded more as a "Student Center" than as a public cafe there'd probably be no issues here because its aim would be clear. A place where students in the area can meet, network, study and get free coffee? That's a fine idea.
Ultimately, I think everyone just needs to calm down.

To CANYNJCT...thank you for your perspectives on this issue. I agree with most of what you said.

You asked if I was over analyzing? Perhaps to you. However, what I find frustrating is that
most people when they hear the dirty word "capitalism" they can't deal with it. They can't talk
about it because they don't even know what it is.

The exploitative system of capitalism - a system that the vast majority of people probably agree with, is not the same as democracy. We have a democracy (the right to vote, a constitution, etc.), but an economic system of capitalism. It was designed to keep white men in power.

If you read the Constitution carefully, you will see that the soon-to-be wealthy and powerful
white men made sure they had language to protect corporations (in the day).

Because I have traveled and lived abroad for many years, I found it extremely helpful to understand what the system of capitalism does to people because guess what?

Most of the rest of the world, especially western Europe DOES know what capitalism is and how it affects their lives. Having lived in this evil system sadly they are informed about what fascism is too.

That is why in democratic socialist (still capitalism) countries they have safety nets built into their system that we have yet to fight for and win. When enough people are starving here, we will have two choices, fascism or democratic socialism.

Only, the future will reveal this reality.

Well, I guess this controversy scuttles my plans to open a pizza restaurant where pineapple-topped pies can only be ordered by natives of Hawaii.

Apparently, Shiru Cafe is not just open to students, but any college or university staff and faculty. I'm not sure how this fits into the career networking for college students. My gut tells me that there is something fishy about this business, but I don't feel like I have enough evidence at this moment to know whether or not their business model is illegally discriminatory. Perhaps others with more information about this business and the legal questions surrounding it are correct in their call for a boycott. For me, I prefer to be cautious, especially when it involves worker's jobs, but I am curious to see how this story unfolds moving forward.

Yes, this cafe is specifically discriminating against people based on social CLASS. Here's a link to the Dennis Gilbert model of socio-economic class structures in the U.S. This cafe is seeking to serve only people in the upper-middle class -- CLASSIFIED by education and employment. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_model

RHeerema...I don't know who Dennis Gilbert is, but I agree that CLASS under capitalism is directly related to what you do in relation to the means of production (that's what Marx said).

Why don't they teach CLASS and Capitalism in public schools and only at prestigious business schools like the Yale School of Organization and Management?

Answer: Because that's where you are taught Capitalism 101.

Why don't they teach about unions in public schools either?

Answer: Because they don't want the workers to access the power the capitalists know a united workforce has.

The reason is that if the working class in this country really knew the source of their problems (the social and economic system that is capitalism) they would gang up on the white, male capitalists and get rid of them.

The people united will never be defeated!

Perhaps those interested in making Shiru Cafe more inclusive could identify potential business partners who value networking with, recruiting, and data mining non-college students. Then encourage those businesses to partner with Shiru Cafe and demand access for non-college and university affiliates.

RHeerema,

As far as I know, Shiru Cafe does not require customers to provide proof of income in order to determine their social class. While some college students may eventually make it into the upper middle class, most active students have very low incomes and high debt.

"The reason is that if the working class in this country really knew the source of their problems (....capitalism) they would gang up on the white, male capitalists and get rid of them."

Wesunidad, in this case I'm afraid that banishing "false consciousness" is a bit like getting the New York Knicks back to the NBA finals. It's going to take a while.

Retired Guy...maybe. However no one can stop capitalism from imploding...that's built into the system. Capitalism is going down the tubes it is not going to get better. It cannot be fixed.
We might be able to enact some safety net measures, but the answer is we either go straight to facism or we go to democratic socialism - a phrase for a kinder form or capitalism. I hope it's the latter.

The problem is that with the working in the state they are in (supporting 45) now and with corporations not paying any taxes, the working class is vulnerable to believe more fairy tales
from 45. He knows how to exploit hungry people.

When he went to "save" the GM company in Ohio, he said, "Don't sell your houses yet, we're going to fill up these factories." In "The New York Times" magazine section yesterday there was an extensive story about this community whose jobs were threatened with "a new allocation" a trick phrase for closing, but the company used this phrase because it was not in the contract language so they would not have to pay them their benefits if the plant closed.

45 then attacked the union president saying, "get your act together and do something."

Make America Wake Up Again!

I applaud Heavenly Treats.

Wesunidad,

It troubles me that you somehow dont see the irony in how you obtained your current position.

"I graduated from an elite, small school (Wesleyan) who's main focus, among other things, is diversity. And I knew that one of the most valuable things that I would get out of that experience was access to alumni who are connected. In fact, as an undergraduate it was encourage. Most colleges do this. But, for me, that's how I got my first job at Yale. I sent letters to
Wesleyan graduates who worked where I wanted to work and I got the help I needed".


Most people dont have access to elite school alumni and doesnt it bother you that you may have taken the job of a deserving underprivileged person who doesnt have Wesleyan contacts and goes the apparently useless route of submitting an application without privilege. How is that any different from being part of a Skull and Bones network. Youre in the Wesleyan network.

missthenighthawks...there is no irony in anything I posted, so don't be troubled.

I have nothing to apologize for or to defend.

I went to Wesleyan as a single parent of three and by golly, I had to go to a college
that would give me access to job opportunities, and Wesleyan did. I avoided a
possible lifetime of welfare for the work that I put in to graduate.

That being said, using college connections through the alumni office is not the same as
a "cafe" in New Haven that bans some people and let's others in - especially because it's
on the Yale campus.

Many people go to Yale for the name Yale on that degree and for the networking. Skull and Bones is a well-known networking institution for white men (are women allowed in yet?) and it's famous for keeping the white ruling class in power.

Check your last blood test. It it reported that the color of your blood was BLUE - then you're "in" for life. Enjoy the perks!.

wesunidad:
That being said, using college connections through the alumni office is not the same as a "cafe" in New Haven that bans some people and let's others in - especially because it's on the Yale campus.
=======

It's not on the Yale campus. Yale, as far as we know, has no connection to this place.

Isn't the alumni office exclusive to people who have had the privilege of attending a top institution? Can anyone walk in there and be provided job recommendations and services?

Canynjct - Ok if you think the 3 block walk between Old Campus and the Yale Med School is not on the Yale campus, that's okay with me. I live in that area, and I consider that I live on the Yale campus because Yale professors, doctors and students are the largest percentage of people that I walk past everyday.

It's on the NYU Campus then!

posted by: wesunidad on May 8, 2019 8:31am
Canynjct - Ok if you think the 3 block walk between Old Campus and the Yale Med School is not on the Yale campus, that's okay with me. I live in that area, and I consider that I live on the Yale campus because Yale professors, doctors and students are the largest percentage of people that I walk past everyday.

It's on the NYU Campus then!
=========

It's not on the Yale campus. By your definition, the Walgreen's is on the Yale campus - the Walgreen's whose clientele is very diverse. By your definition, the Dunkin Donuts is on the Yale campus - the Dunkin Donuts that provides temporary relief for some homeless people after they buy a cup of coffee.

It's not Yale-owned. Period. There's no need to bring in Yale to feel the need to encourage outrage.

Also, how do you reconcile the fact that you rage against this "networking coffee establishment" because of perceived exclusivity yet you got your own job through an exclusive network?

We don't live in a totally egalitarian hunter-gatherer society. Even "social activists" enjoy privileges that they may not be aware of. Not everything is a fight against white supremacy. Not everything is racism and classism. If we want to see racism, we can see racism in a piece of white printer paper. Or Crayon.

This "cafe" may close by the end of summer because of business failure. And we'll never hear of them again.
And guess what? Our lives will be no different. And if they happen to stay open? Our lives will be no different.

There are real battles to fight. We can't be obsessive-compulsive about every trivial thing. Disagreement over tiny matters prevents coming together for big matters that actually impact lives.